The 2013-14 season was Fulham's 132nd in total, and the club's 13th consecutive season in the Premier League, with Martin Jol remaining in charge to start his third campaign at Craven Cottage.
Early transfers were quickly made at the tailend of May and throughout June with the signings of Fernando Amorebieta, Derek Boateng and Maarten Stekelenburg. The big change however, was the selling of the club by chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed to Pakistani-American businessman Shahid Khan, officially announced on 13 July 2013. Khan, who also owned the American Football franchise Jacksonville Jaguars, bought Fulham for a reported £150 million.
Pre-season kicked off with a week in Costa Rica, playing matches against Cartaginés, Alajeulense (Bryan Ruiz' former club) and Saprissa, all resulting in victories albeit the final match on penalties. The remaining pre-season fixtures of Werder Bremen away and Real Betis and Parma at home were more disappointing, with two losses and a draw not inspiring much confidence before the league campaign was underway.
Entering the League Cup in the 2nd round, Fulham were drawn away to League Two Burton Albion, and narrowly scraped through after a penalty shootout victory following a 2-2 draw after extra time. Fulham progressed to the fifth round of the competition before losing out to Leicester City, despite an impressive victory over Everton in the fourth round.
Fulham's League performances became worse and many losses were endured, putting Martin Jol's position under extreme pressure. Certain matches, like the Southampton 2-0 loss and the West Ham 3-0 loss resulted in Fulham failing to register a single shot on target, and it was performances like these that had the fans calling for Jol to be sacked. Ultimately, it was that West Ham match at Upton Park that would be his final match in charge, as Shahid Khan sacked him the following day; René Meulensteen taking charge with immediate effect (having been hired as Jol's right hand man just two weeks prior to this).
Initially, the football played under Meulensteen was noticeably better, and several victories followed, such as the 2-0 win over Aston Villa and the 2-1 away win at Norwich, though two abysmal results were also in the mix including a shocking 6-0 loss at Hull and a 4-1 loss at home to Sunderland. Ambivalence grew among the supporters due to these results, as well as frustration in January for not spending early on, but the impressive signing of Greek striker Kostas Mitroglou and the loan signing of Lewis Holtby among others helped the club feel confident in surviving relegation.
Shortly after the transfer window had closed, Fulham suffered a bad home defeat to Southampton followed up by an almost shambolic 1-0 loss at Craven Cottage in the FA Cup to League One strugglers Sheffield United. However, the squads' morale was given a huge lift the following week when they travelled to Manchester United and returned with a point courtesy of a 94th minute equaliser by Darren Bent. In the following fixture, Fulham gave perhaps one of their strongest performances of the season at home to Premier League runners-up Liverpool despite a 3-2 loss courtesy of a penalty converted by the visitors in the final minute.
That Liverpool match proved to be the last for René Meulensteen in charge, as a few days later he was sacked by the club and GermanFelix Magath was appointed almost immediately. Magath began with a daunting task ahead, and although he picked up more points than Meulensteen or Jol had mustered, it proved too little too late in a season full of woeful performances and it was the leaky defence that had really cost Fulham. 85 goals were conceded, the second most ever in the Premier League and relegation was confirmed in the penultimate match of the season away at Stoke, and finished in 19th place.
Despite the terrible season Fulham had endured, there was certainly one aspect which gave many fans hope. No fewer than 10 academy players made there first team debuts during this season, mostly all impressing especially Patrick Roberts, Moussa Dembélé, Cauley Woodrow and Chris David.
Shahid Khan
Martin Jol (sacked 1 Dec)
Felix Magath
Brede Hangeland
Steve Sidwell (7)
Manchester City (C)
Liverpool
Chelsea
Arsenal
Everton
Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester United
Southampton
Stoke City
Newcastle United
Crystal Palace
Swansea City
West Ham United
Sunderland
Aston Villa
Hull City
West Bromwich Albion
Norwich City (R)
Cardiff City (R)
Neil Etheridge
Jesse Joronen
Marek Rodák
Philippe Senderos
Aaron Hughes
Elsad Zverotić
Fernando Amorebieta
Jack Grimmer
William Kvist
Mahamadou Diarra
Alex Kačaniklić
Giorgos Karagounis
Damien Duff
Adel Taarabt
Kerim Frei
Derek Boateng
Ange-Freddy Plumain
Josh Pritchard
Dimitar Berbatov
Bryan Ruiz
Hugo Rodallega
Ashkan Dejagah
Mesca
Marcello Trotta
Scott Miller
Athletic Bilbao
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
James Musa
Csaba Somogyi
Mladen Petrić
Omri Altman
